UNMIL Urged to Deploy in Foya, Kolahun…

 

 

Forum
Monrovia, Liberia

Distributed by

The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia

Posted January 20, 2005

The Administrative Assistant to Lofa County Superintendent, George T. Tengbeh, is urging the authorities of United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), to deploy peacekeepers in Foya, Kolahun and Vahun Districts to erase fear in the minds of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees to return to their respective districts.

Mr. Tengbeh, in a press release, lamented the absence of the peacekeepers in these three districts thus making them vulnerable.

The county executive observed that the absence of UNMIL in these districts of Lofa poses a very serious threat to the return of IDPs who are yearning so much to go back and begin their farming.

He said if the IDPs of Lofa County cannot be repatriated between now and February 2005, “I am afraid that a lot of people will not farm and hunger will be on the increase during the coming rainy season.” “Those IDPs now returning,” according to a release, “are from Salayea, Zorzor and Voinjama Districts where the presence of the peacekeepers is felt.”

Mr. Tengbeh who lauded UNMIL for the level of improved security in the leeward counties including Lofa, said there is an urgent need for the IDPs from these three districts to return in order for the civil authorities to begin work with their people.

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